Let's talk about mental health... Mental health is one of the most crucial, topical subjects we are still continuing to learn about, un-learn and re-learn in the present day, and this is because there is still an abundance of stigma that comes from the ignorance of not knowing enough about the mind and its troubles, while miscommunications are perpetuating an unhealthy and problematic image of invisible illnesses as a whole. So even though there is so much good that is being done in the name of mental health through charity, volunteering and activist campaigning, it is an evolving battle, not just with the many people who struggle with it but with a society that still minimises its importance by alienating the suffering, while less opportunities are available for the enduring. Mental health awareness has indeed made a resurgence with initiatives and organisations such as the well known ‘Mind’, ‘Young Minds’, ‘Samaritans’ and ‘Rethink’ to name a few, calling to publish viable research in the hopes that positive change may come along, generating reform and wide-spreading awareness, while enforcing campaigns and offering support in varied capacities. Some of these organisations even provide helplines and resources for all sufferers and survivors so I would absolutely recommend taking a look at these sites for getting help and guidance if you don’t have any. Mental health synonymously refers to our psychological state of wellness which influences our emotional well-being, thoughts and behavioural patterns. Just like we have a physical body that needs continual maintenance, examination and recuperation from injury or harm, we have a vast mental capacity that requires the same, but it’s often neglected and left to take care of itself because we trustingly believe - without much consideration - that our emotions will take care of themselves, treat themselves, or at the very least bury themselves so we can continue on with our lives, expecting our emotions to no longer become a hindrance. Think of that word, ‘hindrance’? Should we think about our emotions in such a fruitless way? Of course they can make us feel so small because we don’t always know how to manage them in a savoury fashion, but in actuality our feelings - as well as proving us to be feeling, sentient beings - are supposed to help us more than they ever were meant to hinder. We have feelings to enable us to adapt, engage, experience and survive, they are instinctive and innate, if we weren’t meant to feel them, they wouldn’t be a part of our person. We do possess feelings for evolutionary purposes, but i think we missed a crucial memo along the way …because we started feeling too much and in the wrong ways, leaving us with an extraneous hangover of feelings. Our emotions often form strong resistances, feeling apart from us rather than a part of us. It’s these strong, overbearing feelings that can offset and trigger unhealthy modes of mental stability. Emotions only become a hindrance when we give them power by dwelling in our individual feelings, counting our problems which soon transform into unsavoury obsessions, giving them more and more of our mind’s importance until that dense concentration minimises us in the face of our troubles; until we feel like critters crawling among impossibly sharp blades of grass. It’s fine to feel sadness, to feel nervous, to feel grief, strife, trepidation, you name it, but we cross a line when we dwell in a specific frame of mind that feeds those pernicious feelings - this is where we lose control; when we lose our grip on the driver’s seat, the wheel and our direction. The term ‘mental illness’ means different things to different people, but its a universal phrase that means my mind is broken, and this is because our experiences of mental illnesses are solely singular and unique to our own life experiences, but the onset and triggers can be similar. You might think that because of this nobody can understand the weight of your shoes and what they have to fill, or the weight of your mind’s oppressively running thoughts; how lonely it is to exist in a place where you are the only inhabitant. Mental illness can taint our perceptions to astonishing degrees, they can steadily sedate the lucidity of our lives as we slowly start to forget who we are, what we are and our unknown purposes for being here. It can be a long and isolating walk. There is no one trigger or one size fits all when we talk about the inception of a mental health condition. Mental illnesses are mental imbalances and they can derive from any condition; they can hit sharp and blinding or they might be of gradual build. But they can also make themselves known for no apparent reason, spurred on by something you can’t put your finger on. If this is the case its important to remember that just because you don’t have the answers it doesn’t make your suffering any less salient. Everybody’s experience of mental health should always be paramount, fundamental and cardinal. We need our minds to be able to make sense of the world, to function in the ways we do best. Mental illness is what happens when our minds are calling out for help and need a way to mend again. As a society we manifest ways to draw lines and divisions between us, and history has always told us that discrimination of all kinds has existed from era to era, so we’ve been primed it seems to dichotomise and form biases, but when it comes down to it, its easy to forget something that needs to be well-remembered: we are all people; we are all people suffering and healing, trying and striving for the same things. We are all people who share the same problems, and we are all susceptible to the same problems. Mental illnesses do not affect a select group of people; a mental illness can hit anyone, at any time and at any place, the only difference is that it might be a transitory ordeal for some, and it might hold others in a more indefinite grasp. Why am i writing this post? On a very personal note it’s never been a simple labour for me to emotionally express myself, and to this day i still struggle with this, but I have learned since that an issue as sizeable as this is far bigger and more expansive than my singular troubles. If you are going through something it’s more than likely that you are never the only one. Though so much eminence has come from fighting figures, history has long since declared and demanded these lines between us, and not just history because the current climate proves to still be doing the same, but I wanted to engage in something that strives for the exact opposite; to blend and merge our singular narratives so we can come together that little bit more by sharing a message or a story. The purpose of this post isn’t to explain the scientific and factual nuances of mental health. When mental health awareness day came about (10th October) I had a drive to do something in my small capacity, and this idea of inclusive story sharing came to my mind. This mini project is something I wanted to do to represent the unity in expressing singular stories; that they no longer stay singular when joined with other stories, and In this sense we are no longer alone when we belong to something of an extending narrative. In this, we understand that there is something larger than loneliness, and bigger than bad health. I have managed to get some lovely people involved in this project who have been kind enough to share a story or a message of mental health, and i'm excited to share these with you! When i read these messages i felt amazed with the honesty i received, and i felt it would be huge injustice if i didn't offer something of myself. So, here is something I wanted to share: I don’t think many people understand the well built, influential bond between our physical bodies and our mental health, I don’t even think many are aware of how closely affected both are by each other. Our minds and bodies are inseparably and intricately melded into a combined system of wellness and need to work together to bring us an overall sense of alignment. With me, my mental health has a vast impact on the health of my physical body, and vice versa, and for me this bond is all the more intense because of long-term health issues that i've been subjected to for years. Mental health and physical health are both topics I hold in the biggest regard, but also with a great deal of bitterness because i've been at the receiving end of suffering from both. And I say suffering because I have suffered from both, and my unfortunate health - in a physical, emotional and mental capacity - has always found a way to take from me. One of my doctors once explained to me that if there is no will in the mind, the body will not follow, and if there is no will to move the body, the mind will not care to. But saying this, when you have a persistent illness - like myself - it’s not feasible to live by these ideals because we are granted a ‘half life’ with measurable shortcomings. I can’t live my life by the standards of others because i am bound by stifling symptoms and dictated by my stunted cognition, made all the more feeble by an insatiable sapping of vitality and energy that takes and takes from me. If anything though, I have acquired a level of empathy that can’t be erased - if there is any silver lining it has to be this. …Because when we have so intimately and explicitly experienced the depth of a coarse, unscrupulous, disturbing emotion we have that same endless capacity to feel the exact opposite of that feeling. If you can touch the bottom of a well of sadness you can reach the same depth of something much brighter. There is no weakness in sharing your suffering, vulnerability yes, but vulnerability is just another form of honesty as well as being a solid companion to strength - both will always come hand in hand. So keep talking, share your happiness and your sadness, let people know you are not fine, get some help because the onset of mental imbalances can be preventable, take your medicine, smile to make yourself feel better, smile at others so they can feel the rays, take care of your feelings like you’d nurture a newborn, put yourself first sometimes, If not always, feel, but don’t feel too much, find joy and fall in love with the things that ill health took from you. Sometimes all it takes to begin healing is to fall in love with the things you enjoy, sometimes it takes an abundance more. Make jokes - even shitty ones because humour is an affordable and resourceful salve, focus on yourself without the anxiety of comparison. Remove yourself from fallacy because you’ll find that your bane is believing in the false. Listen to your mind’s nonsensical chatter - hear it, indulge it for the sake of humour, laugh and let it go. Let your tyrannical thoughts pass like you’d watch cars go by on a street (with a passing glance and no more than that), talk and remember that just because you feel alone it doesn’t mean that you are because every person is a link in a together-bound, eternal chain of events. Understand that you can’t place your worth in hands that are not your own - nobody has any right to this but you. Learn at your own pace and not at the pace of others because we’re not meant to walk with the same speed or with the same intensity. Climb a ladder with balanced steps, don’t run the risk of falling at the expense of sense. Fall if you must - falling is just a process of getting back up. If all you can do is lay in bed because your life is one of unsmiling malaise then look at your surroundings with crisp eyes every day, and find the beauty in what’s stationary. If you can appreciate silence and slumber you’ve learned an invaluable art. Everybody wants what everybody has because nobody wants what they have - don’t believe in the way of appearances, the earth is always richer on the other side…but its just as filthy. If you believe everything your eyes see you are being fooled by one of life’s biggest frauds. Wish for little, if only good health and a steady mind, and respect yourself by negating what’s irrelevant. Stride slow, look at nature, take some pictures, read a book, draw something, eat good food, look at the stars or a sunset because we have an abundance of natural medicine at our forgiving fingertips. Find precious worth in the timely spaces you’ve neglected. Laugh, cry, purge yourself of your stresses through relaxation, get good sleep and wake up remembering that you’ve done something right. Irrespective of age, irrespective of success, irrespective of status - these things mean nothing when we provoke the core. Find a balance with your life and your inner conflicts. Write notes to yourself, tell yourself how great you’re doing, put them in a jar and empty it each year remembering how much you’ve achieved, whether its placing a foot in front of the other or swimming the channel. Striving for feeble things kills your creativity so find a focus on contentment and not on pleasure. Don’t forget the person underneath the symptoms, find a way to seek yourself outside of the illness. Manage in a loud, earthshaking way, or a silent somber one, offer yourself some leniency and prize yourself when nobody else cares to examine the prize that you are. Try to see your loved ones through your veiled reality - they might be grieving with you and for you, they might be reaching for you, waiting until you accept a long-rejected hand. Don't grant yourself the right to become your biggest tormentor because you'll always have hell to pay. This won't be an easy conquest but try to see yourself outside of the heart of any illness as opposed to within it - objectivity could mean clarity. Feelings are ever-evolving, you will never feel eternal happiness as you will never feel everlasting pain, emotions change just as the natural nuances of life do, they keep changing, it’s the natural state of things and an ironic parallel of life. So stop striving for happiness, strive for contentment wherever you are because with contentment you might find peace in each moment of mayhem or despair, just as you might in vitality. Stop priding yourself on being busy, it’s not a measurement we should live by. Measure yourself not by your body weight, or your gray hairs, or how much you have piled in the bank, measure on gratitude. Appreciate your individuality because nobody else gets to wear your heart or bear the matter of your mind. I’m not asking you to suppress your troubles, I’m not asking you to walk through life with a sense of duplicity, I’m not asking you to implement the impossible, and i'm especially not asking you to romanticise your illnesses; I’m asking you to accept something that not many people would act to accept. Find your heart, find your passion, find your rationality, find your balance and run with it like a fast wind or walk with it like a slower one. You become mentally upset when your mind and body need help, but mental upset is sometimes a warning - telling you that you are looking in the wrong places and need to change your life's direction. Mahatma Gandhi one said “I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet”. Wise words, and a great addition to this would be ‘and I’ll not handle my own mind with sullied hands’ because our own mental health is dependent on our handling of it just as much as it can be affected by external influences. I have to admit that I feel like an impostor writing this because i will never feel it is my place to wax poetic as an ode to general life and health. How can I talk to you with such vigour and offer credence in these words when I can only exact them to a considerable degree. Well, again, something else I’ve learned: Sometimes you have to tell yourself something for it to find some truth, and you have to keep on standing by that faith to get there. I can only talk to you of my own implicit, authentic thoughts, i can't speak of eternal optimism and to offer words of rich wisdom when I will only ever be in the same boat as the rest of you. I am not writing this from a seat of perfect health, I am writing from a bed of bad health, but with an intention to do a little good and offer some encouragement. It’s a lonely thing when you experience something that the world can’t understand, it’s even lonelier when they can’t perceive your pain, because the bitter nature of an invisible illness is that it’s not only invisible to other people, but it makes you feel invisible. I can feel it, it’s real to me. Sometimes I just want to say, I can feel, I wish that you can too. As writer J.K. Rowling once said, “Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?" "Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” And as Andrew Soloman, writer, campaigner and speaker of mental health once said on his voyage of depression: “Reason with yourself when you have lost all reason.” And now, here is where the inclusive part of this project comes in! I want to thank these lovely people for taking part and speaking honestly about their experiences while offering something of hope in the same sense too:... People believe that good mental health is all about being happy and smiling at all times. Unfortunately, we all equate that happiness or that flash of smile in the face with the flawed assumption that things are fine, that what was troubling someone is finally over and done with. No, it is not over and done with. We humans have a great and also suicidal capacity to try and shove our problems under the carpet of our falsified happiness. With time, we become experts at this, concealing our inner demons and our problems so skilfully, so adroitly beneath the veneer of this complacent happiness, merely to put others at ease. It is what the world wants to see because other people don't really care to probe deeper into the problems that somebody might face. They would rather leave these problems alone or, to compensate in hypocritical fashion, try to force the affected person to smile and forget it all. It is difficult to smile and it is even harder to forget it all. We don't realise what is eating us up and when we do, we are afraid of expressing it, of discussing it out in the open. Our parents will call us cowards, think that we do not have the pluck and positivity to face the challenges hurled at us in life. We have to live up to their expectations and so we bury our problems and try to soldier on. That is not right. We have to be brave and insist on explaining, confessing that we have problems, that we are not as strong as we always need to be, that sometimes life hits us when we least expect it to and leaves us reeling and crying for help. And we need to demand, to beg, to ask for that help, without any shame or without any reserve. It is not an ignoble or selfish thing. Everybody deserves the right to feel happy, to feel healthy in not just body but mind and soul. And everybody wants a cure, no matter what the cost. All I can say is that hiding away your problems and covering them up with a smile might be brave and all but if your problems are serious enough, it would be much better for yourself if you are honest about them. And most of all, if you are honest about them to yourself. Don't pretend that you are fine and it happens with everybody else and it will pass. If it is something really serious, it needs to be solved and not shoved aside. So, open up, speak the truth, let people be rattled or disturbed or unsettled but push them, especially the ones who claim to love you, to solve it, to treat you right, to make you feel truly happy and not just force their idea of happiness on your face. People are often surprised to learn that I've suffered from depression and anxiety my whole life. I try to keep my social media persona positive and cheerful to brighten people's days, but I once had a therapist tell me the reason I do that is because I'm trying to help people feel better since I know how painful it is to feel bad much of the time. The worst thing about depression is how it can really hit at any time. Things will be going fine, and then one day with no discernible cause, I'll feel a crushing wave of sadness or fear. The best thing I ever did for myself was start seeing a therapist about my depression and anxiety. I was at a point where I was having trouble functioning any more (getting almost no sleep at all, constantly having to take time out of work), and after finally admitting to myself that I needed help, I sought out treatment. I still suffer from bouts of depression and anxiety from time to time, but it's nowhere near as overwhelming as it used to be, and when it does hit, going over things I learned about myself in treatment really helps ground me and keep the anxiety from ruling my life any more.
I suffer from anxiety and I always doubt myself and my abilities. I feel like a failure if I don't achieve my goals. I come from a strict, traditional Asian family and they expect me to do well. This has always put so much pressure on me and I'm always comparing myself to others. I suffer from panic attacks and start to tremble before exams. I spoke to my parents about my mental health and they learned to understand that putting pressure on me is doing more harm. They are now very supportive of me. Now, I'm coping well and I'm learning to look after myself. Surrounding yourself with people who are supportive always helps! I never thought I could suffer from depression" this is a snipet from Elon musk. I am not quoting this to show that even the big shots are vulnerable to it. I am quoting this to make a point that everyone is vulnerable to mental illness. This isn't an illness per se, but a state where your brain doesn't want to function properly because of conditions you were put in. I never thought I would visit a psychiatrist in my life. I even surprised my friends when I said I am going for treatment to that extent that no one believed me until I showed my schedule and reports. Mental instability can arise from any thing, be it sadness, being unable to achieve a significant goal, family quarrels or loss of a close relation. In my case it was the last one on the list. I was perfect on the outside. Nobody noticed a thing for years. But slowly friends started seeing changes in my mindset and the way i interact with people. The way i closed myself on people. On the outside i was extrovert, meeting everyone and being gregarious. But I never met the same person for more than once or twice. I never tried to make friends. I was lost in my world. It doesn't seem like anything but underneath it was all chaos. I never shared my feeling or sorrow with anyone and closed it inside me which led to a lot of personality changes. I underwent therapy for 8 months and now I seem to be doing fine. Following my mum's death a few years ago (SUDEP) I was left with chronic anxiety and would suffer panic attacks before I had to go to sleep. I was also worried that my brother and partner wouldn't wake up - so for months after, I would stay awake and check on them throughout the night. Lack of sleep left me pretty vulnerable to everything going on around me for a long, long time. I quit writing, I couldn't listen to music or read without feeling guilty for enjoying myself - so I just stopped. One of the most important things at the time, was that my friends noticed the change in my behaviour and went over and above to support me. Even though I had said I was fine, they knew that I wasn't. It's so important to be honest with yourself and others and not be afraid to reach out. After 4 years, I've started to read and even write again. I still feel guilty at times - but you should always make time for yourself. You're allowed bad bad days & I promise better days are coming your way ❤ Mental health is more prominent and important than ever, and it’s finally getting talked about and brought to light, when it should have as much as it is now, years ago. If you are suffering in any way, you are not alone. Millions of people suffer daily, and/or know someone who does. Even when the world feels like it’s out to get you, and nothing has been going your way, don’t give up. You are a light to this world. You matter. This world and people can be cruel. Be as positive and loving to yourself and everyone around you. No matter how people treat you- “kill them with kindness”. Don't forget take time for yourself and have mental health checks. Keep doing things you love and enjoy, especially during rough times- any hobbies, activities, or interests you have. As hard as it is, try not to lose sight of yourself and keep being you. People love to hate on things or others who are different from them, or things they don’t understand. Let them, you don’t have to give up something you like or change, just because of them. It’s cliche but true- time heals so much, and it WILL get better. It won’t happen overnight, and you can’t expect it to. Patience is something that is really hard to have and accept, but allow time for yourself to grow and learn. The biggest thing I wish I knew growing up, middle school and high school specifically, is not to take life so seriously. Everything is so minor in the grand scheme of things. If you dwell and are stuck in the past, it is that much harder to move forward, to bigger and better things.
Mental health… Is not always the easiest topic to talk about, where do you even begin? I used to suffer from depression and stress and it can make you feel so alone. You can be surrounded by hundreds of people and yet still feel alone. “What is the point of anything?” you’ll ask yourself. “What use am I?” “If I’m not here tomorrow, will anyone even miss me, or notice that I’m gone?” Depression is a very powerful thing that can truly affect your mind and yet some people don’t understand and tell you to “snap out of it” because it’s that easy, right? The most helpful piece of advice I can give is to talk to someone. Bottling up all these feelings, will just make you feel worse and worse. Yes you may feel like “they won’t understand”, but if you’re feeling this way, you are not the only person, there are many people out there who feel the same way you do and are battling the same battles. So talk to someone. It is a small step that can seem somewhat big in your own mind, but the outcome, will definitely be worth it. My family helped me come out of my depression, but the only way you will come out of it is if YOU take that first step and talk to someone and seek help. People can offer help and be there for you but unless YOU ask for help, then nothing will change.
Mental health is always a hard subject to bring up when you have been through it, or know somebody who has. My story with mental health is a little different because I had to watch it through the perspective of somebody else's eyes. I watched it grip hold of, change, and turn someone I love into a completely different person. The one silver lining is that over the years we've built up such a love, understanding, complete confidence and faith in each other that he was able to talk to me straight away with what he was going through I was very mindful to make sure I listened to how he felt, to not make it all about me and to not dismiss him and tell him to 'snap out of it you'll be fine’ (some of the worst and common things people tell people with depression) He sought professional help as well as talking to me and family. For the last couple years he's been back stronger, healthier and happier than ever before. So I would say to anyone suffering from mental health, depression, anxiety or anything else to always speak to someone. You're never alone and the people around you may surprise you and show you how much you are truly loved. It's 2019 and still mental health isn't openly discussed as much as it should be. We are all - in some shape or form - suffering with feelings such as low self esteem, confidence, and image conscious amongst other things. As a man, I feel like we were told from an early age "we're men, we don't get emotional, we're supposed to be strong, girls cry not us men" but there's a reason that more men commit suicide than women. We are afraid that society might deem us as weak or inferior if we express our true emotions, that our friends and family will look and treat us in a different manner and we may alienate other people. The truth of the matter is we must talk, all of us, both men and women. We cannot be afraid to speak about how we feel because keeping it within serves no purpose and will just have a negative effect on our mental stability. I myself have often felt like I'm not good enough, not good enough for a certain job, not good enough for a certain person, not good enough to be successful in life. These feelings stem from within where I felt that my life is at a stand still and I have so much responsibilities on my shoulders in regards to contributing and helping my family financially, and juggling my own wants and needs amongst all of that. I can truly say that having a strong core of friends around me has been like a breath of fresh air, being honest and open with them and telling them what I'm going through daily really does feel like an enormous weight off my shoulders, and I feel like I can speak about what I'm going through and I won't be judged or treated differently. I'm grateful to have people in my life that truly care about me and believe in my hopes and ambitions, who daily motivate me to strive and better myself and I feel that it's a direct result of me being honest, firstly with myself about how I feel and secondly with them.
Mental health is the ridiculed child sitting in the back of the class. Mental health is the starving homeless man we all ignore. Mental health is telling a blind man to colour inside the lines. Mental health isn’t a stab wound you can recover from all at once, but feeling a million lacerations every day. So how far are we going to continue to neglect the matter? In the 21st century where man has the ability to discover an infinite amount of information at the tap of an app, where technology has advanced beyond our wildest imaginations. A world in which we are able to travel to the furthest corners of the world, a world in which humans have descended upon the moon and space in search of alternate life. Where the impossible is slowly becoming possible. So why is it that mental health is such a taboo topic? Its only heard in hushed whispers between one and the darkness, is quietly written between the pages of journals to be shut and locked away - never to be opened again. Being a teenager, attending school where social media is dominating every aspect of my peers’ lives - it’s inevitable that several students are going to have mental health issues, so what does this mean for us as children? Instead of being able to smile and laugh without hesitation, we are constantly ensuring we look “good”, that our Instagram posts are getting a sufficient amount of likes and validation. That we forget about what WE want, what makes us happy until eventually we become shells of what we once were. My closest of friends and family have all suffered from some type of mental health problem, and I can say with clarity that seeing those I love endure so much hardship chips away at my heart. Having to pretend I don’t see the bloodshot puffy eyes, the festering pain behind their smiles. To hold them when an anxiety attack hits, feeling their trembling body in mine and hearing their jagged breaths in my ear. It never gets easier and it never will unless we do something about it. I worked in mental health services for a year or so and during that I came into contact with a lot of people whose mental health struggles looked very different to mine. In some ways it made me feel lucky. While my anxiety often made things much more difficult it seldom stopped me from doing what I needed to do altogether. Many of the people I worked with were residential patients whose mental health issues had caused a severe disruption in their lives. While the care I saw them receiving was usually of a really high standard occasionally I would come across another member of staff whose views on mental illness and attitudes towards our patients specifically was incredibly ignorant. These were people in dire need of understanding and compassion yet some of my colleagues would often dicuss them as lazy con artists looking to sponge off the state. I found this really, really disheartening. It's part of why I chose to leave that job. It shows how far we still need to come as a society. The stigma around 'invisible' illnesses remains. It reminded me of an early experience I had with a doctor, one of the first I saw about my anxiety. I think I was around 17. He was very unhelpful. In fact he was actively harmful. He asked why I was anxious, that from what he could see I didn't have any REAL problems. He said I should be happy, that I was good looking, had friends, a loving home and was doing well in school. At the time this made me feel so much worse, I knew I SHOULDN'T feel the way I did. But I did feel that way and he should have taken that far more seriously. I've had friends who have encountered similarly dismissive doctors and professionals. It's all too common. We shouldn't have to stand our ground and fight so hard to be taken seriously. We've all heard that meditation and exercise help but hearing that kind of thing from a doctor when you're in crisis just isn't good enough. For me anxiety has always been about unrealistic worries. Logically I'll know that a situation will be fine. Maybe it's something I've done a hundred times before or I'm going to be around people I like and trust. But I'll feel in my stomach like it won't be fine. Anxiety can be such a physical thing which I don't think a lot of people realize. I've always felt it in my stomach. Medication has helped me tackle the more physical feelings of anxiety. I really wish there wasn't such stigma about medication in the media. I've seen so many movies and TV shows where medication is portrayed as this awful thing that makes you a zombie. A character coming off their medication (often shown as a dramatic shot of them flushing their nasty pills down the drain) is seen as a heroic, brave thing to do. I feel that I'm more my real, best self without the horrible anxiety I feel in my gut when I'm worried. I'm a better friend, brother, worker, boyfriend, son. Medication is nothing to be scared of. It doesn't change your personality or make you unfeeling. It just helps your body know its safe and it doesn't need to enter panic mode so much. Mental health problems can make you a bit selfish. There's no shame in that, sometimes when things are at their worst you need all your energy and attention to cope and you can't be there for other people as much as you'd like to. Medication has helped me get out of my own head and be more present in my day to day life. There's obviously still a mental and emotional component to anxiety though. The best way I've found to handle that is trying to separate what I know from what I feel. I've tried my best to learn not to let unrealistic worries become facts. For example, if I have to do an interview with someone for my job as a researcher sometimes I'll get a pang of anxiety and feel like for some reason it won't go well. I try to take a step back and think that's not a realistic worry, that's my anxiety talking. What I know from experience is that most of the time things like this go fine and even if they don't it's not the end of the world, it's nothing I can't handle. As much as I think things have gotten better for people with mental health issues in recent years, there are still barriers. People who haven't struggled with these issues themselves sometimes don't view them as seriously as they should, certainly not as seriously as they'd take a physical issue. So much of how easy it is to get a handle on your mental health issues depends on having understanding friends, family, and colleagues. Luckily I've had all of those things. I can't imagine how difficult getting through the worst times would have been without that. Mental health. They are just two words but they are words that people and society still need to open up to and talk about without any bias.
The state of the mind affects the behaviour and emotions of a person. Briefly put, when an individual's state of mind is unbalanced, affecting their ability to enjoy life by that is what is known as mental health. A lot of people suffer from mental health disorders. Having a mental health disorder can color the way in which people see the world. What can be peaceful and normal for one person can be chaotic and detrimental to those with a mental health disorder. It's common for people suffering with mental health disorders not to talk about it out of fear of being labelled or the fear of others not understanding. This bears the question of 'how will you know if someone is struggling with their mental health?' The truth is without taking the time to communicate with those individuals and identify the triggers of change in their behaviour you will never know. My advice: Be there. Take the time to talk but mostly to listen. Show whoever is struggling with their mental health that they are not alone. And to finish this very important sharing of stories, i'd like to introduce you to one last message from Dr. Balbir Nandra, cognitive behavioural therapist, hypnotherapist and doctor of homeopathy, discussing his approach to holistic treatment... I believe that the aim of every medical science is to bring the sick to health with its various methods of administrating medicine. It is observed that almost all medical sciences deal with the physical part of the human being, where as homeopathy deals with the physical and mental. To achieve the aim, various medical sciences depend upon on different types of tests, examinations, including blood reports and so forth. However, beside the clinical finding homeopathy takes into account both subjective and objective symptoms, family history, life circumstances, exciting causes and various other contributing factors to the sick. The whole process usually gives weight towards individualisation via characteristic, general and peculiar symptoms. The importance of mental symptoms is vital since mostly patients come to the doctor for treatment of there physical sickness. Mental symptoms in physical sickness become uncommon to there physical ailments which actually can bring the individual to health, both mentally and physically. Thank you sincerely to all of the people who took the time out to write something heartfelt and genuine. I'm so glad you found this important enough to share something. If you'd like to get in touch, talk about mental health or share your own stories of it leave a comment below. If you'd like to learn more about mental health or looking for some help, i've listed some links to resources below, and if you're in need of a helpline, the NHS website i've listed has a list of reachable ones. Don't let mental illness take something from you, and if you find that it is, there is an abundance of advice and support at your fingertips. M E N T A L H E A L T H R E S O U R C E S: 1) Mental Health helplines - NHS website: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/stress-anxiety-depression/mental-health-helplines/ 2) Samaritans: https://www.samaritans.org/ 3) Rethink: Mental Health UK - Rethink - offered a snippet of their manifeso for this blog post: At Mental Health UK, we connect with people and organisations to provide mental health information, advice and support. Working across the UK, we bring together over 40 years of expertise from our four national founding charity partners to improve understanding and provide vital care. Individually we are mental health experts in our respective nations. Together we are an even stronger team. Our way of collaborating allows more people across the UK to access support for their own mental health as well as friends, family members and carers. Living with a mental health condition can affect many aspects of daily life, from your physical health to your home, your work and ability to manage money. Every year we provide thousands of people across the UK with practical advice and information to help understand and manage their mental health. Some of our projects include: ● Support groups providing a safe space for people to learn new skills, meet new people and talk about their experiences without discrimination. ● Mental Health and Money Advice, the first UK-wide service to address both mental health and money issues together. ● ‘How does it feel on the inside’ mental health information guides distributed to over 700,000 GP surgeries and university students. ● Bloom, a resilience programme for 14-18 year olds to help young people manage their mental health through life transitions. https://mentalhealth-uk.org/about-us/our-founding-charities/ 4) Time to change: It's important to note that 'Time to Change' do not offer individual support for mental health sufferers but are momentarily dedicated to changing current and long-standing stigmas. 'Time to Change' were helpful enough to share a piece of their work with me: "Time to Change are a growing movement of people working to change how we all think and act about mental health problems. Time to Change’s voice is stronger and louder thanks to funding from the Department of Health, Comic Relief and the Big Lottery Community Fund. Our campaign is run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, and thousands more organisations have joined us to make change happen. Too many people with mental health problems are made to feel isolated, ashamed and worthless. But with the right support from those around them, people can recover and have equal opportunities in all areas of life. So we support communities, schools and workplaces to open up to mental health, to talk and to listen. To find out more, visit www.time-to-change.org.uk. https://www.time-to-change.org.uk/about-us/frequently-asked-questions/contact-us 5) Website Planet: How Email Can Negatively Impact you Mental Health https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/email-mental-health-impact/ Leave a comment and let's talk about mental health...
4 Comments
James
4/11/2019 17:32:46
Absolutely loved this read. Mental health is a conversation that we should all be having with our loved ones.
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Vaishali@Vicarious Living
5/11/2019 11:05:40
Thank you James!
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Angel
4/11/2019 17:44:02
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this! As someone who suffers from anxiety and meets that struggle every day, it's inspiring to know that in our own way we are all in this together!
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Vaishali@ Vicarious Living
5/11/2019 13:08:45
Thank you Angel! I was happy to, and considering we're never really alone in our struggles with mental health its always unifying to remember that mental illness has a way of finding and attacking us all.
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